Location-based search mechanism in a graphical user interface

ABSTRACT

A social media platform provides a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) for accessing social media content submitted for public accessibility via the social media platform supported by the map-based GUI. The GUI includes a map providing interactive location-based searching functionality in that selection of a target location by the user in the GUI, such as by tapping or clicking at the target location, triggers a search for social media content having geo-tag data indicating geographic locations within a geographical search area centered on the target location.

PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/249,201, filed Feb. 23, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/965,754, filed Apr. 27, 2018, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 10,963,529, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/556,134, filed Sep. 8, 2017; U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/552,958, filed Aug. 31, 2017; andU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/491,115, filed Apr. 27, 2017,the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entireties.

BACKGROUND

Social media applications implement computer-mediated technologiesallowing for the creating and sharing of content that communicatesinformation, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression viavirtual communities and networks. Social media platforms use web-basedtechnologies, desktop computers, and mobile technologies (e.g., smartphones and tablet computers) to create highly interactive platformsthrough which individuals, communities, and organizations can share,co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-madecontent posted online.

Mobile electronic devices on which end-user social media applicationscan be executed typically provide geolocation services that determinethe geographic location of the mobile electronic device, by extensionindicating the geographic location of the associated user. Social mediacontent posted by users is often geo-tagged based on the geolocation ofa mobile electronic device (such as a mobile phone) by use of which thesocial media content is captured and/or posted to the social mediaplatform. In other embodiments, social media content may explicitly begeo-tagged by a user using a computer device that does not haveactivated geolocation services and/or that is not a mobile device (suchas a desktop PC).

In many social media platforms, the total number of individual socialmedia items that are available for viewing by any particular user can bevery large. Search mechanisms that enable users to locate social mediacontent that may be of interest to them can consume significantserver-side resources and often provide less than satisfactory searchresults.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some aspects of the disclosure are illustrated in the appended drawings.Note that the appended drawings illustrate example embodiments of thepresent disclosure and cannot be considered as limiting the scope of thedisclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example social media platformsystem for exchanging, posting, and consuming social media data (e.g.,messages and associated content) over a network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details regarding asocial media platform system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored in adatabase of the social media platform system, according to certainexample embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message,according to some embodiments, generated by a social media clientapplication according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example access-limitingprocess, in terms of which access to content (e.g., an ephemeralmessage, and associated multimedia payload of data) or a contentcollection (e.g., an ephemeral message gallery or story) may betime-limited (e.g., made ephemeral).

FIGS. 6A and 6B are respective schematic views of a client deviceproviding a map-based graphical user interface for a social mediaapplication, according to different respective example embodiments.

FIGS. 7A-7C are respective schematic views of a client device providinga destination selection interface forming part of a map-based graphicaluser interface for a social media application, according to some exampleembodiments.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a social media platform system forproviding a map-based graphical user interface for a social mediaapplication, according to one example embodiment.

FIGS. 9A-9C are a series of schematic flow charts illustrating anexample embodiment of a method of providing a map-based graphical userinterface for a social media application, according to an exampleembodiment.

FIGS. 10A-10B are respective schematic screenshots of a search interfaceforming part of a map-based graphical user interface, according to oneexample embodiment.

FIGS. 11A-11B are a series of schematic screenshots illustrating alocation-based search mechanism provided by a map-based graphical userinterface, according to one example embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The headings provided herein are merely for convenience and do notnecessarily affect the scope or meaning of the terms used.

INTRODUCTION

One aspect of the disclosure provides a geographical map-based graphicaluser interface (GUI) for a social media platform or application, toallow user access via the map-based GUI to ephemeral social mediacontent. Such an interface is also referred to herein as a “map GUI.”

As will be described in greater detail below, ephemeral social mediacontent comprises social media items that are available for viewing viathe social media application for only a limited period. For example, anephemeral message (also referred to herein as a “snap”) submitted by auser to the social media application may be available for viewing byother users via the map GUI of the social media application for only apredefined period subsequent to submission. In one example embodiment,each ephemeral message or snap has an availability lifetime (alsoreferred to herein as a “gallery participation timer”) of 24 hours aftersubmission, after which the ephemeral message “disappears” and is nolonger available for viewing by other users via the map GUI. Suchephemeral messages typically comprise photographic or video content,which may be submitted with or without augmentations made by the user tothe underlying photographic or video content.

Ephemeral messages submitted by multiple different users may beavailable on a map forming part of the map GUI based at least in part onrespective geotag information of the ephemeral messages. In someembodiments, the map GUI may provide location-based access to one ormore collections or galleries of ephemeral messages (also known as andreferred to herein as “stories”). In some example embodiments, aplurality of ephemeral messages submitted by different users areincluded in a common geo-anchored gallery or story based at least inpart on respective geotagging information of the plurality of ephemeralmessages. Such a location-based gallery or story is in some embodimentsrepresented on the map GUI by a respective gallery icon displayed at acorresponding map location, the gallery icon being selectable by theuser to trigger automated sequential display of the plurality ofephemeral messages in the gallery on the user device on which the mapGUI is rendered.

In some embodiments, such a map GUI includes representations of at leastapproximate respective positions of a user's friends in a social networkgraph accessed by the social media application, with the social mediaapplication enabling the user to explore the world around friends'locations by use of the GUI. Thus, the map GUI can in some embodimentsenable the user to explore uploaded social media content (e.g.,individual photos or video clips/snaps, or social media galleries suchas stories comprising respective collections of photos, messages, orsnaps).

Various aspects of the disclosure will be described below with referenceto specific example embodiments. First, platform architecture and atechnical background to implementation of the various embodiments willbe described with reference to FIGS. 1-5 . Thereafter, specific exampleembodiments are described with reference to FIGS. 6A-11B. FIGS. 12-13finally describe aspects of software and hardware components that are insome instances used in the implementation of the described exampleembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and dataas described below and in the drawings that form a part of thisdocument: Copyright 2017 SNAP, INC., All Rights Reserved.

The description that follows includes systems, methods, devices,techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine programproducts that embody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In thefollowing description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding ofvarious embodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident,however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventivesubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

System Architecture and Operating Environment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example social media platformsystem 100 for exchanging data (e.g., social media items or messages andassociated content) over a network. In this description, itemscommunicated from one user to one or more other users via a social mediaapplication or platform, as well as items uploaded or provided by usersto a social media application or platform for availability to orconsumption by other users via the social media application or platform,are referred to as “messages.” Thus, the term “messages” as used hereinis not limited to communications from one user to specified recipientusers, but includes messages made available for public consumption viathe relevant social media platform.

The social media platform system 100 includes multiple client devices102, each of which hosts a number of applications including a socialmedia client application 104. Each social media client application 104is communicatively coupled to other instances of the social media clientapplication 104 and a social media application server system 108 via anetwork 106 (e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each social media client application 104 is able tocommunicate and exchange data with another social media clientapplication 104 and with the social media application server system 108via the network 106. The data exchanged between social media clientapplications 104, and between a social media client application 104 andthe social media application server system 108, includes functions(e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well as payload data (e.g.,text, audio, video, or other multimedia data).

The social media application server system 108 provides server-sidefunctionality via the network 106 to a particular social media clientapplication 104. While certain functions of the social media platformsystem 100 are described herein as being performed by either a socialmedia client application 104 or by the social media application serversystem 108, it will be appreciated that the location of certainfunctionality either within the social media client application 104 orthe social media application server system 108 is a design choice. Forexample, it may be technically expedient to initially deploy certaintechnology and functionality within the social media application serversystem 108, but to later migrate this technology and functionality tothe social media client application 104 where a client device 102 has asufficient processing capacity.

The social media application server system 108 supports various servicesand operations that are provided to the social media client application104. Such operations include transmitting data to, receiving data from,and processing data generated by the social media client application104. This data may include message content, client device information,geolocation information, media annotations and overlays, message contentpersistence conditions, social network information, and live eventinformation, as examples. Data exchanges within the social mediaplatform system 100 are invoked and controlled through functionsavailable via user interfaces (UIs) of the social media clientapplication 104.

Turning now specifically to the social media application server system108, an application programming interface (API) server 110 is coupledto, and provides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112.The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the application server112.

Dealing specifically with the API server 110, this server receives andtransmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) between theclient device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, the APIserver 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines and protocols)that can be called or queried by the social media client application 104in order to invoke functionality of the application server 112. The APIserver 110 exposes various functions supported by the application server112, including account registration; login functionality; the sending ofmessages, via the application server 112, from a particular social mediaclient application 104 to another social media client application 104;the sending of media files (e.g., images or video) from a social mediaclient application 104 to a social media server application 114, forpossible access by another social media client application 104; thesetting of a collection of media data (e.g., a story or gallery); theretrieval of such collections; the retrieval of a list of friends of auser of a client device 102; the retrieval of messages and content; theadding and deletion of friends to and from a social graph; the locationof friends within a social graph; opening an application event (e.g.,relating to the social media client application 104); and so forth.

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including the social media server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116, and a social network system 122. The social mediaserver application 114 implements a number of message processingtechnologies and functions, particularly related to the aggregation andother processing of content (e.g., textual and multimedia content)included in messages received from multiple instances of the socialmedia client application 104. As will be described in further detail,the text and media content from multiple sources may be aggregated intocollections of content (e.g., called “stories” or “galleries”). Thesecollections are then made available, by the social media serverapplication 114, to the social media client application 104. Otherprocessor- and memory-intensive processing of data may also be performedserver-side by the social media server application 114, in view of thehardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes the image processing system116, which is dedicated to performing various image processingoperations, typically with respect to images or video received withinthe payload of a message at the social media server application 114.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services, and makes these functions and services availableto the social media server application 114. To this end, the socialnetwork system 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph 304 (describedbelow with reference to FIG. 3 ) within the database 120. Examples offunctions and services supported by the social network system 122include the identification of other users of the social media platformsystem 100 with whom a particular user has relationships or whom theparticular user is “following,” and also the identification of otherattributes and interests of a particular user. In some embodiments, thesocial network system 122 includes an identification of other userswhose location is available for viewing by a particular user via amap-based GUI displayable on a client device 102 using the correspondingsocial media client application 104.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details regarding thesocial media platform system 100, according to example embodiments.Specifically, the social media platform system 100 is shown to comprisethe social media client application 104 and the application server 112,which in turn embody a number of some subsystems, namely an ephemeraltimer system 202, a collection management system 204, and an annotationsystem 206.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary access to content permitted by the social media clientapplication 104 and the social media server application 114. To thisend, the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timersthat, based on duration and display parameters associated with amessage, or collection/gallery of messages (e.g., a SNAPCHAT story),selectively display and enable access to messages and associated contentvia the social media client application 104. Further details regardingthe operation of the ephemeral timer system 202 are provided below.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managingcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image, video, and audiodata). In some examples, a collection of content (e.g., messages,including images, video, text, and audio) may be organized into an“event gallery” or an “event story.” Such a collection may be madeavailable for a specified time period, such as the duration of an eventto which the content relates, or until expiry of a last message or snapin the gallery. For example, content relating to a music concert may bemade available as a “story” for the duration of that music concert. Thecollection management system 204 may also be responsible for publishingan icon that provides notification of the existence of a particularcollection to the user interface of the social media client application104. As will be described in greater detail with reference to thespecific example embodiments that follow, the collection managementsystem 204 may also be responsible for compiling and managing multiplelocation-based social media galleries based at least in part on geo-tagdata of social media items or messages uploaded to the social mediaplatform by multiple users. Other types of galleries that may beprovided by the collection management system 204 include a “place story”that collects ephemeral messages having geotag data indicating alocation within a predefined associated geographical area; and an ad-hocstory or spike story that is dynamically surfaced on a map GUI asdescribed herein based on underlying location-based social mediaactivity, e.g., based on geo-temporal volume or anomality/unusualness ofsocial media items submitted by users for public consumption (e.g., forinclusion in a “Live Story” or “Our Story”). With “anomality” is meantis metric indicating a how anomalous something is.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 208 that allows a human operator (e.g., a collection manager)to manage and curate a particular collection of content. For example,the curation interface 208 enables an event organizer to curate acollection of content relating to a specific event (e.g., to deleteinappropriate content or redundant messages). Instead, or in addition,the collection management system 204 may employ machine vision (or imagerecognition technology), geotag data, and/or content rules toautomatically compile and/or curate a content collection. In certainembodiments, compensation may be paid to a user for inclusion ofuser-generated content into a collection. In such cases, the curationinterface 208 operates to automatically make payments to such users forthe use of their content.

The annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a userto annotate or otherwise augment, modify, or edit media contentassociated with a message. For example, the annotation system 206provides functions related to the generation and publishing of mediaoverlays for messages processed by the social media platform system 100.The annotation system 206 operatively supplies a media overlay (e.g., aSNAPCHAT filter) to the social media client application 104 based on ageolocation of the client device 102. In another example, the annotationsystem 206 operatively supplies a media overlay to the social mediaclient application 104 based on other information, such as socialnetwork information of the user of the client device 102. A mediaoverlay may include audio and visual content and visual effects.Examples of audio and visual content include pictures, texts, logos,animations, and sound effects. An example of a visual effect includescolor overlaying. The audio and visual content or the visual effects canbe applied to a media content item (e.g., a photo) at the client device102. For example, the media overlay includes text that can be overlaidon top of a photograph taken by the client device 102. In anotherexample, the media overlay includes an identification of a locationoverlay (e.g., Venice Beach), a name of a live event, or a name of amerchant overlay (e.g., Beach Coffee House). In another example, theannotation system 206 uses the geolocation of the client device 102 toidentify a media overlay that includes the name of a merchant at thegeolocation of the client device 102. The media overlay may includeother indicia associated with the merchant. The media overlays may bestored in the database 120 and accessed through the database server 118.

In one example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides auser-based publication platform that enables users to select ageolocation on a map, and upload content associated with the selectedgeolocation. The user may also specify circumstances under which aparticular media overlay should be offered to other users. Theannotation system 206 generates a media overlay that includes theuploaded content and associates the uploaded content with the selectedgeolocation.

In another example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides amerchant-based publication platform that enables merchants to select aparticular media overlay associated with a geolocation via a biddingprocess. For example, the annotation system 206 associates the mediaoverlay of a highest-bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocationfor a predefined amount of time

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data 300 which may be storedin the database 120 of the social media application server system 108,according to certain example embodiments. While the content of thedatabase 120 is shown to comprise a number of tables, it will beappreciated that the data could be stored in other types of datastructures (e.g., as an object-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table314. An entity table 302 stores entity data, including an entity graph304. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table302 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, etc. Regardless of type, any entity regarding which thesocial media application server system 108 stores data may be arecognized entity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, aswell as an entity type identifier (not shown).

The entity graph 304 furthermore stores information regardingrelationships and associations between entities. Such relationships maybe social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation ororganization), interested-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

The database 120 also stores annotation data, including in the exampleform of filters, in an annotation table 312. Filters for which data isstored within the annotation table 312 are associated with and appliedto videos (for which data is stored in a video table 310) and/or images(for which data is stored in an image table 308). Filters, in oneexample, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image orvideo during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of varioustypes, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filterspresented to a sending user by the social media client application 104when the sending user is composing a message. Other types of filtersinclude geolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may bepresented to a sending user based on geographic location. For example,geolocation filters specific to a neighborhood or special location maybe presented within a user interface by the social media clientapplication 104, based on geolocation information determined by a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) unit of the client device 102. Another type offilter is a data filter, which may be selectively presented to a sendinguser by the social media client application 104, based on other inputsor information gathered by the client device 102 during the messagecreation process. Examples of data filters include a current temperatureat a specific location, a current speed at which a sending user istraveling, a battery life for a client device 102, or the current time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 308 isso-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

Yet further annotation data that may be stored within the annotationtable 312 is user-generated annotations or augmentations provided by theuser to overlay an underlying photographic image or video. Suchaugmentations/annotations can include, for example, text annotations anddrawing annotations or augmentations provided by the user, e.g., via aclient device touchscreen.

As mentioned above, the video table 310 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 314. Similarly, the image table 308 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe message table 314. The entity table 302 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 312 with various images and videosstored in the image table 308 and the video table 310.

A story table 306 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a SNAPCHAT story or a gallery). The creation of aparticular collection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., anyuser for whom a record is maintained in the entity table 302). A usermay create a “personal story” in the form of a collection of contentthat has been created and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, theuser interface of the social media client application 104 may include anicon that is user selectable to enable a sending user to add specificcontent to his or her personal story. In the context of thisdescription, such messages and stories/galleries are understood to befor private consumption, being limited for viewing via the social mediaapplication to particular users identified by the submitting user or tousers who are members of a social network of the submitting user. Thisis to be contrasted with social media items provided for public ornon-private consumption via the social media application, not beinglimited to a user-specific or user-specified subset of all users of thesocial media application. An example of a publicly viewable collectionor gallery is a “Live Story” or “Our Story.”

As mentioned, a collection may also constitute a “Live Story,” which isa collection of content from multiple users that is created manually,automatically, or using a combination of manual and automatictechniques. For example, a “Live Story” may constitute a curated streamof user-submitted content from various locations and events. Users whoseclient devices have location services enabled and are at a common eventlocation at a particular time may, for example, be presented with anoption, via a user interface of the social media client application 104,to contribute content to a particular Live Story. The Live Story may beidentified to the user by the social media client application 104, basedon his or her location. The end result is a “Live Story” told from acommunity perspective. In accordance with some example embodiments ofthis disclosure, a submitting user can submit social media items ormessages to a non-specific common Live Story. Such content is accessibleto other users via a map-based graphical user interface, with suchsocial media items or messages being accessible via the map GUI based ona respective location indicated by corresponding geo-tag data, either byforming part of a location-based gallery or story, or by such otherusers using location-based search mechanisms forming part of the mapGUI.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus). In some embodiments of this disclosure, a message uploaded to aLive Story or Our Story generally, without the user specifying aparticular location story in which the message is to be included, canautomatically or semi-automatically be included in a location storybased at least in part on geo-tag data of the message.

A map tile table 320 stores multiple map tiles that can be used forpresenting a map in a map viewport of a map-based GUI, according to someembodiments of this disclosure. In a particular example embodiment, eachmap view is composed of 9 or 16 map tiles stitched together. A pluralityof sets of map tiles may be maintained for different map zoom levels. Insome example embodiments, a superset of map tiles is maintainedserver-side, being forwarded to a requesting client device 102 forcomposing a map representation of specific requested areas.

A user location table 326 stores current or most recent user locationdata for multiple users of the social media application. The userlocation data may be based on location data received from respectiveclient devices 102 associated with the respective users. Such userlocation data is in some example embodiments used to display in amap-based GUI respective locations of a plurality of users who form partof the social network of the requesting user and/or who have providedpermission for the requesting user to view their locations. Each suchuser may be represented on a map forming part of the map GUI by arespective user icon or bitmoji.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a social mediaitem or message 400, according to some embodiments, generated by oneinstance of the social media client application 104 for communication toa further instance of the social media client application 104 or to thesocial media server application 114. The content of a particular message400 is used to populate the message table 314 stored within the database120, accessible by the social media server application 114. Similarly,the content of a message 400 is stored in memory as “in-transit” or“in-flight” data of the client device 102 or the application server 112.The message 400 is shown to include the following components:

A message identifier 402: a unique identifier that identifies themessage 400.

A message text payload 404: text, to be generated by a user via a userinterface of the client device 102 and that is included in the message400.

A message image payload 406: image data, captured by a camera componentof a client device 102 or retrieved from memory of a client device 102,and that is included in the message 400.

A message video payload 408: video data, captured by a camera componentor retrieved from a memory component of the client device 102 and thatis included in the message 400.

A message audio payload 410: audio data, captured by a microphone orretrieved from the memory component of the client device 102, and thatis included in the message 400.

A message annotation 412: annotation data (e.g., filters, stickers, orother enhancements) that represents annotations to be applied to themessage image payload 406, message video payload 408, or message audiopayload 410 of the message 400.

A display duration parameter 414: a parameter value indicating, inseconds, the amount of time for which content of the message (e.g., themessage image payload 406, message video payload 408, and message audiopayload 410) is to be presented or made accessible to a user via thesocial media client application 104. The display duration parameter 414is also referred to herein as a “display duration timer.”

A message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data or geo-tag data(e.g., latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with thecontent payload of the message 400. Multiple message geolocationparameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of theseparameter values being associated with respective content items includedin the content (e.g., a specific image within the message image payload406, or a specific video in the message video payload 408).

A message story identifier 418: identifier values identifying one ormore content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a particularcontent item in the message image payload 406 of the message 400 isassociated. For example, multiple images within the message imagepayload 406 may each be associated with multiple content collectionsusing identifier values. An example of such a message story identifier418 can in some embodiments comprise one or more thumbnail images.

A message tag 420: each message 400 may be tagged with multiple tags,each of which is indicative of the subject matter of content included inthe message payload. For example, where a particular image included inthe message image payload 406 depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tagvalue may be included within the message tag 420 that is indicative ofthe relevant animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on userinput, or may be automatically generated using, for example, imagerecognition.

A message sender identifier 422: an identifier (e.g., a messaging systemidentifier, email address, or device identifier) indicative of a user ofthe client device 102 on which the message 400 was generated and fromwhich the message 400 was sent.

A message receiver identifier 424: an identifier (e.g., a messagingsystem identifier, email address, or device identifier) indicative of auser of the client device 102 to which the message 400 is addressed.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of the message 400may be pointers to locations in tables within which content data valuesare stored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406may be a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table308. Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point todata stored within a video table 310, values stored within the messageannotation 412 may point to data stored in an annotation table 312,values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point to datastored in a story table 306, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 302.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an access-limiting process500, in terms of which access to content (e.g., an ephemeral message502, and associated multimedia payload of data) or a content collection(e.g., an ephemeral message story 504) may be time-limited (e.g., madeephemeral).

An ephemeral message 502 is shown to be associated with a displayduration parameter 506, the value of which determines an amount of timethat the ephemeral message 502 will be displayed to a receiving user ofthe ephemeral message 502 by the social media client application 104. Inone embodiment, where the social media client application 104 is aSNAPCHAT client application, an ephemeral message 502 is viewable by areceiving user for up to a maximum of 10 seconds, depending on theamount of time that the sending user specifies using the displayduration parameter 506. In some embodiments, the system automaticallyattaches a default display duration parameter 506 to photographic orstill-image messages, e.g., having a default display duration of 5seconds. The display duration parameter 506 of video-based messages mayautomatically correspond to the duration of the underlying video, withan automatically enforced upper limit. Thus, in an example embodiment inwhich an upper limit of 10 seconds is enforced, a 7-second video messagewill have a display duration parameter of 7 seconds.

The display duration parameter 506 and the message receiver identifier424 are shown to be inputs to a message timer 512, which is responsiblefor determining the amount of time that the ephemeral message 502 isshown to a particular receiving user identified by the message receiveridentifier 424. In particular, the ephemeral message 502 will only beshown to the relevant receiving user for a time period determined by thevalue of the display duration parameter 506. The message timer 512 isshown to provide output to a more generalized ephemeral timer system202, which is responsible for the overall timing of display of content(e.g., an ephemeral message 502) to a receiving user.

The ephemeral message 502 is shown in FIG. 5 to be included within asocial media gallery in the form of an ephemeral message story 504(e.g., a personal SNAPCHAT story, or an event story). The ephemeralmessage story 504 has a story duration parameter 508, a value of whichdetermines a time duration for which the ephemeral message story 504 ismade available and is accessible to users of the social media platformsystem 100. The story duration parameter 508, for example, may be theduration of a music concert, where the ephemeral message story 504 is acollection of content pertaining to that concert. Alternatively, a user(either the owning user or a curator user) may specify the value for thestory duration parameter 508 when performing the setup and creation ofthe ephemeral message story 504. In some embodiments, the story durationparameter 508 is determined based at least in part on respective storyparticipation parameters 510 (or lifetimes) of one or more of theephemeral messages 502 forming part of the particular ephemeral messagestory 504. In one example embodiment, the story duration parameter 508corresponds to a story participation parameter 510 or lifetime of alast-posted one of the ephemeral messages 502 in the relevant ephemeralmessage story 504. In such a case, the ephemeral message story 504expires (e.g., by becoming unavailable for viewing via the social mediaplatform) when the last-posted ephemeral message 502 therein expires(e.g., when a story participation parameter 510 or lifetime of the lastephemeral message 502 expires).

As alluded to above, each ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeralmessage story 504 has an associated story participation parameter 510(also referred to herein as a “gallery participation parameter” or a“gallery participation timer”), a value of which determines the durationof time for which the ephemeral message 502 will be accessible withinthe context of the ephemeral message story 504. Accordingly, aparticular ephemeral message 502 may “expire” and become inaccessiblewithin the context of the ephemeral message story 504, prior to theephemeral message story 504 itself expiring in terms of the storyduration parameter 508. The story duration parameter 508, storyparticipation parameter 510, and message receiver identifier 424 eachprovide input to a story timer 514, which operationally determines,first, whether a particular ephemeral message 502 of the ephemeralmessage story 504 will be displayed to a particular receiving user, and,if so, for how long. Note that the ephemeral message story 504 is alsoaware of the identity of the particular receiving user as a result ofthe message receiver identifier 424.

Accordingly, the story timer 514 in some embodiments operationallycontrols the overall lifespan of an associated ephemeral message story504, as well as an individual ephemeral message 502 included in theephemeral message story 504. In one embodiment, each and every ephemeralmessage 502 within the ephemeral message story 504 remains viewable andaccessible for a time period specified by the story duration parameter508. In a further embodiment, a certain ephemeral message 502 mayexpire, within the context of the ephemeral message story 504, based ona story participation parameter 510. Note that a respective displayduration parameter 506 may still determine the duration of time forwhich a particular ephemeral message 502 is displayed to a receivinguser upon replay of the ephemeral message 502, even within the contextof the ephemeral message story 504. Accordingly, the display durationparameter 506 determines the duration of time that a particularephemeral message 502 is displayed to a receiving user, regardless ofwhether the receiving user is viewing that ephemeral message 502 insideor outside the context of an ephemeral message story 504.

The ephemeral timer system 202 may furthermore operationally remove aparticular ephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message story 504based on a determination that it has exceeded an associated storyparticipation parameter 510. For example, when a sending user hasestablished a story participation parameter 510 of 24 hours fromposting, the ephemeral timer system 202 will remove the relevantephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message story 504 after thespecified 24 hours. The ephemeral timer system 202 also operates toremove an ephemeral message story 504 either when the storyparticipation parameter 510 for each and every ephemeral message 502within the ephemeral message story 504 has expired, or when theephemeral message story 504 itself has expired in terms of the storyduration parameter 508. Note that in this disclosure, at least someephemeral messages 502 may be submitted by the user to the social mediaapplication for general or public viewing via the map-based GUI, withoutbeing included by the user in any particular event gallery and withoutbeing included in any location-based gallery represented by a respectivegallery icon on the map GUI. Such ephemeral messages 502 in someembodiments also have respective story participation parameters 510specifying time periods for which the ephemeral messages 502 areaccessible via the map GUI as part of a collective Live Story or OurStory, as described with reference to specific example embodimentsbelow. In a particular example embodiment, each ephemeral message 502thus submitted for public or non-private view has a default galleryparticipation parameter or story participation parameter 510 of 24hours. Such ephemeral messages 502 are thus viewable via the map GUI foronly 24 hours after submission.

In certain use cases, a creator of a particular ephemeral message story504 may specify an indefinite story duration parameter 508. In thiscase, the expiration of the story participation parameter 510 for thelast remaining ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral message story504 will determine when the ephemeral message story 504 itself expires.In this case, a new ephemeral message 502, added to the ephemeralmessage story 504, with a new story participation parameter 510,effectively extends the life of an ephemeral message story 504 to equalthe value of the story participation parameter 510.

In response to the ephemeral timer system 202 determining that anephemeral message story 504 has expired (e.g., is no longer accessible),the ephemeral timer system 202 communicates with the social mediaplatform system 100 (and, for example, specifically the social mediaclient application 104) to cause an indicium (e.g., an icon) associatedwith the relevant ephemeral message story 504 to no longer be displayedwithin a user interface of the social media client application 104.Similarly, when the ephemeral timer system 202 determines that the storyparticipation parameter 510 for a particular ephemeral message 502 hasexpired, the ephemeral timer system 202 causes the social media clientapplication 104 to no longer display an indicium (e.g., an icon ortextual identification) associated with the ephemeral message 502.

Example Embodiments of Map GUI Functionality

First, various aspects and features of the disclosure will be describedconceptually with respect to specific example embodiments discussed withreference to and illustrated in FIGS. 6A-11B.

Basic Map GUI Architecture

FIG. 6A shows an example embodiment of a map-based graphical userinterface, further referred to as a map GUI 612, displayed on a clientdevice 102 in the example form of a mobile phone. In this exampleembodiment, the map GUI 612 is generated on a display in the form of atouchscreen 606 capable of receiving haptic input. The map GUI 612includes a map 618 showing an aerial or satellite representation of aparticular geographical area. The map 618 is displayed within a mapviewport 621 which, in this example embodiment, uses the full availablearea of the touchscreen 606. In other example embodiments, the mapviewport 621 may be a bounded panel or window within a larger displayscreen. The map GUI 612 further comprises a plurality of user-selectablegraphical user interface elements displayed at specific respectivegeographic locations on the map 618. Each such geo-anchored GUI elementis in this example embodiment represented by a respective indicium oricon overlaid on the map 618. The different types of icons and theirrespective functionalities will be described in greater detail below. Aswill also be described briefly, the map GUI 612 may further include oneor more informational overlays rendered over the underlying geographicalmap 618, in this example embodiment including a heatmap 625representative of the geographical distribution of underlying socialmedia activity on the social media platform provided by the relevantsocial media application. In this example embodiment, the social mediaplatform to which the social media client application 104 executing onthe client device 102 provides access is SNAPCHAT™ provided by Snap Inc.

As mentioned, the map GUI 612 includes a number of differentuser-selectable icons or UI elements that indicate differentgeographically based content or information. In this example embodiment,the map GUI 612 includes a plurality of different gallery icons, alsoreferred to in this description as “story icons.” Each story iconcorresponds in location on the map 618 to a respective location-basedsocial media gallery, in this example embodiment corresponding to alocation-based story of ephemeral messages in the example form ofso-called “snaps,” as discussed elsewhere herein. Each of these storiesthat are represented by respective story icons on the map 618 consistsof a respective set of snaps (respectively comprising augmented orunaugmented photographic or video content) that are grouped togetherbased at least in part on respective geo-tag data associated withrespective snaps.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 6A, the map GUI 612 includes twodifferent types of gallery icons for two different respective types oflocation-based social media galleries, namely place icons 631 for placegalleries/stories, and spike icons 633 for spike galleries/stories thatare dynamically surfaced on the map GUI 612 based on one or more metricsof underlying social media activity relating to the submission of socialmedia items/snaps to the social media platform with geo-tag dataindicating the respectively associated geographical areas. Note thatthese different types of galleries are represented by different types oficons 631, 633. The differences between these different types ofgalleries and the corresponding visually distinct gallery icons 631, 633are discussed later herein. The map GUI 612 in this example embodimentfurther includes friend icons in the example form of bitmojis 640 thatare displayed on the map GUI 612 based on the current or last knowngeographic location of respective friends of the user associated withthe client device 102.

Message and or Story Ephemerality

In this example embodiment, the social media items that are selectivelyplayable by selection of the corresponding story icons 631, 633 in themap GUI 612 are ephemeral social media items or messages. As describedpreviously, ephemeral content is social media content (e.g., augmentedand/or unaugmented video clips, pictures, and/or other messages) that isavailable for viewing by social media users via the map GUI 612 for onlya predetermined limited period, also referred to herein as a respectivegallery participation parameter or timer. After expiry of a respectivegallery participation parameter or timer for any ephemeral message orsnap uploaded by a particular user, that ephemeral message or snap is nolonger available for viewing by other users via the map GUI 612generated on their respective client devices 102. Current examples ofsuch ephemeral social media content include the respective snaps ormessages included in so-called “stories” in the SNAPCHAT or theINSTAGRAM social media applications.

Instead of, or in addition to, management of ephemerality on a per-snaplevel using respective gallery participation timers, availability of theephemeral messages by the map GUI 612 can in some instances be managedcollectively, e.g., on a per-story level. In such instances, each storycan have a respective story duration parameter 508 (e.g., being based ona corresponding story timer 514—see FIG. 5 ), at the expiry of whichavailability of the corresponding story for viewing via the map GUI 612is terminated. In some embodiments, the story duration parameter 508 iscalculated based on the story participation parameter 510 of one of theephemeral messages included in the relevant story. For example, a storymay in some embodiments expire when a last uploaded item within thestory expires, in response to which the corresponding story icon 631,633 is no longer displayed on the map GUI 612. In one exampleembodiment, the map GUI 612 may include one or more event icons (e.g.,similar in appearance to the place icons 631 of FIG. 6A) correspondingto respective event stories, with the story duration parameter 508 ofthe event story being set to expire a predetermined period of time fromthe start or conclusion of the underlying event. At expiry of the storyduration parameter 508, the corresponding gallery icon 631, 633 isremoved from the map GUI 612, irrespective of individual timersassociated with respective snaps included in the event story.

Story Playback

The user can select any one of the gallery icons 631, 633 by hapticcontact with the touchscreen 606 at the on-screen location of theselected gallery icon 631/633. In response to such selection, automatedsequential playback of the corresponding set of ephemeral messages orsnaps in the selected story is performed by the client device 102 on thetouchscreen 606. Such automated sequential playback of the selectedstory consists of:

-   -   displaying on the touchscreen 606 the content or media payload        of a first one of the ephemeral messages for a corresponding        display duration (e.g., a default value of five seconds for        photo-based messages and a maximum value of 10 seconds for        video-based snaps), in this example embodiment temporarily        replacing the map GUI 612 on the touchscreen 606 with a        full-screen replay of the relevant snap;    -   at expiry of the display duration, displaying the content of the        next snap/message for its display duration; and    -   thus progressing in sequence through all of the ephemeral        messages in the selected story until all of the snaps in the        story have been replayed or until the user selectively dismisses        the playback sequence.

In some embodiments, not all of the snaps in a particular story/galleryare necessarily included in the replay sequence. For example, if thereare many overlapping snaps (e.g., snaps showing substantially identicalcontent), some of those snaps are automatically skipped to keep acontinuous narrative and not repeat some sections of an event commonlycaptured by the different snaps. Instead, or in addition, the socialmedia server application 114 can in some embodiments be programmedautomatically to identify and curate overlapping or contemporaneoussnaps based on timestamp information associated with respective snaps.

In this example embodiment, the snaps automatically collected togetherin a replayable spike story or place story are arranged automatically tobe played back in chronological order based on respective timestamps(e.g., being played in sequence from oldest to newest or earliest postedto most recently posted). A benefit of such chronological playback isthat viewing of the story provides a user with sequentially arrangedviews of events transpiring at the relevant location. In some instances,however, a human curator may choose to rearrange snaps out ofchronological order, for example to improve the narrative flow of thestory. In other embodiments, the snaps may be played in reversechronological order, from newest to oldest.

It can thus be seen that the example map GUI 612 includes multiplelocation-based gallery icons in the example form of story icons 631, 633that are user-selectable to trigger playback of respective collectionsof ephemeral social media items, in this example embodiment beingrespective ephemeral stories consisting of respective sets of ephemeralmessages (also referred to in this description as “snaps”). In thisexample embodiment, each of the plurality of location-based storiesrepresented by the respective story icons 631, 633 may comprise mediacontent contributed by multiple different users.

Our Story and Publication of Ephemeral Messages to Our Story

The respective ephemeral stories are in this example embodiment compiledfrom ephemeral messages submitted by multiple users based at least inpart on geo-tagging of the respective snaps. Note that the ephemeralmessages made available for viewing via the map GUI 612 are in thisexample embodiment not limited to content provided by other users whoare members of an in-application social network of the user on whoseclient device 102 the map GUI 612 is generated. Instead, the socialmedia content to which the map GUI 612 allows access is in this exampleembodiment provided by snaps uploaded or submitted by any user to bepublicly accessible via the map GUI 612.

One aspect of the example map GUI 612 provides for the functionality forusers to submit social media content that is publicly viewable via themap GUI 612. Turning briefly to FIG. 7A, therein is shown an exampleembodiment of a destination selection interface 707 forming part of themap GUI 612 to provide a mechanism that provides the user with aselectable option to make a snap publicly viewable via the map GUI 612upon capturing of the snap.

In this example embodiment, snaps can be captured via the map GUI 612while the map viewport 621 is displayed (as seen in FIG. 6A) byoperation of a camera soft button 650 (FIG. 6A) forming part of the mapGUI 612. After capturing of photo or video content by operation of thecamera soft button 650, the captured media content is displayed on thetouchscreen 606 (FIG. 7A) together with the destination selectioninterface 707. In this example embodiment, the user can select one orboth destination options identified in FIG. 7A as “My Story” and “OurStory,” represented in FIG. 7A by respective radio buttons 714, 721. Byselecting the Our Story radio button 721 and thereafter selecting a“Send” soft button 728, the user can submit the snap over the network106 to the application server 112 with an indication that the snap isavailable for non-private publication via the map GUI 612. If the snapis not so marked by the user, for example being associated withselection of the My Story radio button 714 only, then the snap is notavailable for inclusion in any of the stories associated with the storyicons 631, 633 and is not available for inclusion in search results of alocation-based search via the map GUI 612, as described later herein.Snaps included only in the My Story gallery are available only tofriends of the user (e.g., members of the uploading user's socialnetwork). The My Story gallery is a per-user location-agnostic galleryof ephemeral messages available to friend users only, thus being anon-public or private gallery.

In other example embodiments described herein, the superset of ephemeralmessages made available by multiple users for public viewing via the mapGUI 612 is alternatively referred to as the “Live Story” or simply as a“Live” gallery. For the purposes of the description of exampleembodiments herein, “Live Story” and “Our Story” are thus to be read asbeing synonymous. In the present example embodiment, the compilationand/or surfacing of gallery icons 631, 633 and the rendering of theheatmap 625 are based exclusively on publicly available social mediacontent provided by snaps uploaded to Our Story. Calculation of metricsor attributes of social media activity upon which one or more aspects ofthe map GUI 612 are based (e.g., an unusualness or anomality metricindicating geo-temporal unusualness or anomality of social mediaactivity within respective geographical areas) is in this exampleembodiment likewise based exclusively on snaps uploaded to Our Story.

Visual Distinctions Between Story Icons for Different Story Types

Returning now to the visual distinctions or differences between thedifferent types of gallery icons 631, 633, it will be noted that eachgallery icon 631/633 in this example embodiment comprises a circulargraphical user interface element bearing a thumbnail image provided bythe one of the snaps contained in the respective story. Each place icon631, however, also includes an associated label 635 bearing a textindication of the associated place. In this example embodiment, thelabels 635 indicate the respective places of the place stories surfacedin the geographic window presently displayed in the example map 618 asbeing the Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, and the Empire StateBuilding, respectively.

In other example embodiments, the visual distinctions between differenttypes of story icons may be provided in a different manner. FIG. 6B, forexample, shows another example embodiment of a map GUI 612 that isanalogous to the example embodiment of FIG. 6A, a major difference beingthat the visual distinction between place icons 631 and spike icons 633is provided at least in part by differently shaped thumbnail images. Inthe example of FIG. 6B, the thumbnails of the place icons 631 arerectangular, while the thumbnails of the spike icons 633 are circular.

The respective thumbnail images that are used for the spike icons 633are in the example embodiments of FIGS. 6A and 6B automatically selectedby the social media server application 114. In this instance, thethumbnail image for a spike icon 633 is automatically selected based onthe posting time of the respective snaps forming part of thecorresponding spike story, in this case being selected as a mostrecently posted snap in the relevant story. In other embodiments,automatic selection of the thumbnail image to be used in the spike icon633 can be based on selecting the earliest-posted ephemeral message/snapthat is still available for viewing as part of the spike story. Thethumbnail images for the place icons 631 (or for icons associated withother curated stories, such as event stories) can in some embodimentslikewise be selected automatically. In this embodiment, however, thethumbnail images for the place icons 631 can be selected from the snapsincluded in the corresponding story/gallery by a human operator via acontent management interface forming part of the social media serverapplication 114. Absent such an explicit designation of a particularsnap to be used for the thumbnail image, thumbnail selection may revertto an automatic default selection as described previously.

Differences Between Different Story Types Place Stories

Returning to FIG. 6A, the differences between the different types ofsocial media galleries or stories accessible via respective story icons631, 633 on the map GUI 612 will now be briefly discussed.

Place stories, represented by respective place icons 631, are socialmedia galleries for defined locations or places, typically being placesthat consistently have relatively large activity volumes (e.g., TimesSquare, Universal Studios, etc.). Note that, in this example embodiment,not all defined places are by default surfaced in the map GUI 612 byrespective place icons 631. Instead, the geo-anchored place stories aresurfaced based on the amount of activity (e.g., the raw number ofuploaded snaps) captured within a defined geographical area associatedwith the relevant place, as indicated by associated geo-tag data. Thisensures that places that regularly or always attract relatively largevolumes of snaps are identified as such on the map 618.

Defined places for which place icons 631 may be surfaced in the map GUI612 are in this example embodiment manually created by one or more humanoperators using a server-side gallery management system or contentmanagement system (CMS) provided by the social media server application114. In this example embodiment, each defined place has:

-   -   (a) an associated operator-defined polygon marking its        geographical boundaries, that specify a particular geographical        area for the place story;    -   (b) a thumbnail location or icon location, typically lying        within the associated polygon, that specifies the on-map        position at which the place icon 631 for a gallery or story        associated with that place is displayed in the map 618; and    -   (c) a name by which the place is identified. In the example        embodiment of FIG. 6A, this is the name that is displayed on the        associated label 635 of the place icon 631.        In other embodiments, such places and associated place stories        are automatically identified by historical snap volume. In some        such embodiments, the defined places and their associated        stories/galleries are created and curated automatically by        server-side procedures.

In some instances, each place story includes all of the snaps havinggeotag information indicating a geographic location lying within theassociated polygon. Selection of a particular place icon 631 (e.g., byclicking in a desktop application or by tapping on the touchscreen 606in the example embodiment of FIG. 6A) in such cases plays all the snapsfrom within the corresponding polygon. In this example embodiment, theCMS provides functionality to operators or administrators to curate thecollection of snaps associated with any operator-selected defined place(e.g., a particular geographical area defined by the correspondingpolygon). The operator or one or more automated procedures can thus, forexample, delete individual snaps from the place story, or can selectindividual snaps for inclusion in the place story.

When snaps are played in response to selection of a place icon 631, thename of the place appears on-screen together with the replayed contentor payload of the respective snaps. As mentioned, in this exampleembodiment, the snap represented by a corresponding thumbnail within therelevant place icon 631 is played first, then the rest in time order.

Spike Stories

The unlabeled circular spike icons 633 are automatically surfaced forgeographical areas of unusually high activity, with the respectiveassociated spike stories or ad hoc galleries including unexpired snapswithin the associated geographical area. In the example embodiment ofFIG. 6A, all ad hoc galleries associated with spike icons 633 areunmoderated, so that selecting a spike icon 633 triggers automatedsequential replay of all of the snaps within a geographical areaassociated with the spike icon 633. In a particular example embodiment,the geographical area associated with the spike icon 633 includes allgeographical points located within a predefined radius of the on-maplocation of the selected spike icon 633.

Thus, clicking or tapping on the spike icon 633 plays all the snaps inthat cluster, showing the snap in the thumbnail first and then the restof the snaps in time order. Note, again, that the snaps clustered underthe common spike icon 633 are in this example uploaded by multipledifferent respective social media users to Our Story, and are uncuratedby moderators. In other embodiments, the stories collected under suchspike thumbnails may be curated.

Automated selection of spike icons 633 (and therefore of the associatedsocial media gallery, collection, or story) for surfacing in the map GUI612 is in this example embodiment based at least in part on calculationof respective anomality or unusualness metric values for differentgeographical areas, as discussed elsewhere herein. Thus, a level ofunusualness or anomality of user activity in a particular geo-temporalspace would in such instances increase the likelihood of a particularspike story being surfaced on the map GUI 612 by display of acorresponding spike icon 633. Instead, or in addition, human curatorscan also mark specific spike stories or clusters as “interesting,”thereby boosting the unusualness or anomality score of the respectivespike.

Note that, in the example embodiment described with reference to FIG.6A, different social media activity attributes or metrics are used forsurfacing of the place icons 631 and the spike icons 633 respectively.As discussed, spike icons 633 are in this example embodiment surfacedbased on anomality metric values, while place icons 631 are surfacedbased on raw snap volume. In other embodiments, surfacing of the placeicons 631 may also be based at least in part on associated anomalityvalues. Note that in some embodiments, various aspects of social mediasurfacing as described herein (including heatmap calculation andgeneration, story surfacing, etc.) are based on attributes other thananomality. For example, the heatmap 625 and story surfacing are in oneembodiment based on raw activity levels.

Other Types of Stories or Ephemeral Social Media Galleries

Other embodiments can instead, or in addition, provide for social mediagallery types different from the place stories and the spike storiesdescribed with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B. Each such different type ofgallery may be represented on the map 618 by a visually distinct type oficon or other user interface element.

One example embodiment provides for event galleries pertaining toparticular events occurring at a specific location. Such events caninclude, for example, concerts, festivals, sports events, or the like.These event galleries are in one embodiment created and curated by humanoperators using the gallery management system of the social media serverapplication 114.

Some embodiments provide for surfacing on the map 618 story icons orthumbnails with respect to non-public snaps, e.g., snaps or stories thatare access-restricted based at least in part on social networkinformation. For example, individual stories uploaded by friend usersmay in some embodiments be represented on the map 618 by a respectiveicon or thumbnail. For example, the My Story of friend users may in someembodiments be directly accessible via the map 618. Such story icons arein some embodiments indicated by a respective friend icon or bitmoji 640located on the map 618 corresponding to the location at which thecorresponding story was generated. In other embodiments, each such userstory icon may be indicated on the map GUI 612 by a circular thumbnailanalogous to the previously described example story icons 631, 633.

Snap Submission to User-Selected Location-Based Stories

Another feature of the disclosure enables users to submit publiclyviewable snaps designated for inclusion in any and all Live Stories orephemeral galleries that might be happening at locations where the useris eligible to post, e.g., being geographically proximate to the currentlocation of the user as indicated by the associated client device 102.In this manner, the user can specify snaps for inclusion in placestories, event stories, or other location-based ephemeral social mediagalleries as discussed above.

FIGS. 7B and 7C show an example embodiment of a destination selectioninterface 707 that provides a mechanism for such destination selectionalternative to the example embodiment previously described withreference to FIG. 7A. The destination selection interface 707 of FIG. 7Bis displayed on the client device 102 in response to the user initiatinga snap submission flow, e.g., by capturing a snap.

The destination selection interface 707 of FIG. 7B is similar to that ofthe example embodiment of FIG. 7A, in that two different user-selectableuser interface elements in the form of respective radio buttons 714, 721are presented for posting a snap to a user-specific My Story (radiobutton 714) or to a publicly viewable Our Story (radio button 721). Adistinction between the destination selection interface 707 of FIG. 7Aand that of FIG. 7B is that the Our Story cell of FIG. 7B automaticallyexpands upon selection of the radio button 721 to show subtitles oflocal place stories and/or event stories to which the snap could besubmitted based on device location or the geo-tag of the associatedsnap.

FIG. 7C shows additional options presented as a result of selecting theOur Story radio button 721, which opens up a list showing the respectivelocal stories for which the snap is eligible. In this exampleembodiment, all suboptions are selected by default via respective radiobuttons 750. In other embodiments, separate selection of individualsuboptions may be required. If the user chooses to submit the snap withall of the options selected, that snap is automatically associated witheach of the selected suboptions as well as being made available forgeographically based viewing as part of Our Story, separate from anycurated location-based place or event gallery/story, as described above.

The user can deselect any particular suboptions by clicking or tappingon the corresponding default-selected radio button 750, as shown in FIG.7C, in which the lowermost one of the suboptions has been deselected. Ifall suboptions are deselected, the snap is not posted to any curatedlocation-based story, but is posted only to Our Story to be publiclyviewable via the map GUI 612, as described elsewhere herein.

Heatmap Considerations

As shown in FIG. 6A, the social media application map GUI 612 in thisexample embodiment includes a heat map layer overlaid on thegeographical map 618, thus providing the heatmap 625 that indicatesgeographical distribution of one or more attributes of user activitywithin the social media application. As discussed previously, theheatmap 625 indicates user activity levels with respect to postinggeotagged content that is publicly viewable (e.g., Live Stories/OurStory). Instead, or in addition, the heatmap 625 can in some embodimentsbe based on snaps that are available for viewing by the particular useron whose client device 102 the map GUI 612 is displayed, in which casethe heatmap 625 may differ from person to person depending on who gavethe viewer permission to see their snaps.

In this example embodiment, the map 618 is color-coded, with warmercolors corresponding to higher levels of unusualness, as indicated byhigher anomality metric values. Thus, in the map 618 illustrated in FIG.6A, the red areas of the heatmap 625 indicate those geographical areaswith snap clusters corresponding to the highest anomality metric values.Again, different metrics or attributes for generation of the heatmap 625may be used in other embodiments, for example being based on snapdensity (e.g., raw snap volume per unit area of the map 618).

In some embodiments, the map GUI 612 displays information pertaining tothe heatmap 625 differently at different magnification levels. Forexample, calculation of anomality metrics and consequent rendering ofthe heatmap 625 based thereon is in some embodiments performedseparately for each of a plurality of zoom levels. In addition,different sets of spike icons 633 may be surfaced at differentmagnification levels. In one example embodiment, the heatmap 625 may bedisplayed at a first zoom level without individual spike icons 633surfaced in the map GUI 612, while multiple gallery or story icons 631,633 are automatically surfaced in response to user-controlled zooming inon a particular portion of the map 618 shown at the first zoom level.

Anomality Metric Calculation

Some features of the map GUI 612 in this example embodiment provide forcalculating with respect to social media content an anomality metricthat quantifies geospatial anomality or unusualness of the social mediacontent, and for surfacing the social media content in the map GUI 612based on respective values for the anomality metric. In this exampleembodiment, respective collections of snaps associated with differentgeographical locations are ranked based at least in part oncorresponding anomality metric values, and a predetermined number of thecollections are automatically selected based on their anomality rankingsfor surfacing on the map GUI 612 with respective spike icons 633.Instead, or in addition, all spike stories with an anomality metricvalue higher than a predefined threshold value can automatically besurfaced by the display of a corresponding spike icon 633. As describedelsewhere herein, the calculation and display of heatmap information isin some embodiments based at least in part on anomality metriccalculation.

Anomality metrics may in some embodiments be calculated for individualsocial media items. In this example embodiment, however, anomalitymetrics are calculated for collective user behavior. In particular,anomality metrics are calculated for multiple snaps (in this examplebeing respective geotagged social media submissions) based on acomparison between geo-temporal distribution of the multiple snaps andhistoric geo-temporal social media behavior in or around the relevantgeographic location.

Note that the calculation of anomality metrics is in this exampleembodiment time sensitive. Thus, the same volume of snaps in aparticular location may be identified as being anomalous at one time ofthe day but not at another time. For example, a certain level of socialmedia activity (here, posting of snaps to Our Story) at the Empire StateBuilding would be flagged as above-threshold anomalous at 4 AM, butwould not be thus identified as anomalous during daytime.

An aspect of the disclosure provides for determining one or moregeo-temporal attributes of social media activity by a processcomprising, for each of multiple social media postings, representing theposting as having a distribution in time and/or in space. In someembodiments, representing respective postings as having a geo-temporaldistribution comprises treating respective social media items as aprobability cloud, for example having a Gaussian distribution. Instead,or in addition, the method may comprise generating or extrapolating ahistorical model or historical representation of social media activitybased at least in part on a resampling procedure executed with respectto a multiplicity of historical geo-tagged social media items. In oneexample embodiment, the resampling procedure comprises a bootstrappingoperation.

In some embodiments, the representation of social media postings ashaving respective distributions in time and/or space is performed aspart of an operation to represent a geo-temporal reference profile ormodel for historical social media activity for a particular geographicalarea. Instead, or in addition, the representation of social mediapostings as having respective distributions in time and/or space may beperformed as part of a procedure to represent recent or near-live socialmedia activity in the particular geographical area. In such cases, thegeo-temporal reference profile and the representation of the recent ornear-live social media activity may be used in combination to identifywithin the geographical area one or more regions of interesting oranomalous social media activity, e.g., by calculating a geographicaldistribution of a quantified anomality metric based on differencesbetween the geo-temporal reference profile and the correspondingrepresentation of recent or near-live social media activity.

Dynamic Variation of Icon Size

Turning briefly to FIG. 6B, it will be seen that the map GUI 612illustrated therein provides an example embodiment of an aspect of thedisclosure that provides for automated variation in one or more visualattributes of user interface elements associated with respective socialmedia content based at least in part on a quantified attribute ofunderlying social media activity. In particular, the example embodimentof FIG. 6B provides for dynamic variation in the on-screen size ofrespective spike icons 633 based on respective anomality metric valuesfor the corresponding clusters or spike galleries. On-screen size of therespective spike icons 633 thus indicates a level of unusualness oranomality of the underlying social media activity. Worded differently,the size of a spike icon 633 represents how unusual it is for there tobe the relevant amount of activity in that spot, with a larger spikeicon 633 indicating a greater level of unusualness.

Instead, or in addition, a visual attribute (such as its on-screen size)of the place icons 631 may likewise be variable based on a correspondinganomality value. In the example embodiment of FIG. 6B, however, theon-screen size of the place icons 631 is variable based on snap volume,with a greater number of snaps included in any place story correspondingto a larger on-screen size of the associated place icon 631. Thus, it isintuitively intelligible from the example screenshot shown in FIG. 6Bthat the Universal Studios story has a greater number of snaps than theVenice Boardwalk story.

Search Functionalities

In addition to viewing clustered stories by selection of the story icons631, 633, the user can access snaps by use of one or more searchfunctionalities provided by the map GUI 612. In this example embodiment,the map GUI 612 provides two separate search mechanisms, namely a searchbar 665 (FIG. 6A) and a location-based search by clicking or tapping ata target location on the map 618.

Search Bar Mechanism

An example embodiment of operation of a search bar is illustratedschematically with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B. Selection of thesearch bar 665 (FIG. 6A) causes display of a drop-down search interface1010 that includes a search box 1020 for entering a text-based search,and one or more lists of suggestions 1030 in respective user interfacecells displayed below the search box 1020. In the example embodiment ofFIG. 10A, individual suggestion cells correspond to individual snaps,stories, places, and/or friends. As can be seen with reference to acorresponding screenshot of the search interface 1010 in FIG. 10B, theparticular cells displayed as part of the suggestions 1030 aredynamically filtered in response to text entry in the search box 1020,to include only stories, friends, or places that satisfy the enteredsearch query.

When the user clicks on a selected cell in the list of suggestions 1030,the map GUI 612 in this example automatically navigates with a fly-overto the corresponding point on the map 618, after which the selectedstory or spike cluster starts playing, or a friend bubble pops up, asthe case may be. In some embodiments, at least some aspects of thetext-based query are limited to the geographical area currentlydisplayed in the map viewport 621. Instead, or in addition, some aspectsof the text-based query may be location-agnostic, returning searchresults from any location. For example, the part of the searchsuggestions 1030 titled “Friends on the Map” can in some embodiments belimited to friends currently visible in the map viewport 621 (i.e., inthe portion of the map 618 displayed in the map GUI 612 immediatelybefore the user triggers display of the search interface 1010).

Location-Based Search Via Map

As an alternative to entering a text-based search query, the user caninitiate a location-based search by selecting a target location on themap 618 separate from any of the story icons 631, 633, friend bitmojis640, or any other selectable user interface element overlaid on the map618. In this manner, the map 618 itself provides an interactive searchmechanism. An example embodiment of such a location-based search isillustrated schematically with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B.

In response to the user's clicking or tapping on a particular locationon the map viewport 621, a search is conducted for social media itemswithin a predefined radius from the click- or tap location. In thisexample embodiment, such a location-based search does not return a listof graphical user interface elements that are selectable to playrespective items, but instead automatically triggers automatedsequential replay of items returned as a result of the search.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 11A, selection of a target location1110 is by haptic contact at the selected on-screen position, consistingof tapping the touchscreen 606 with a single finger 1120 of the user.Thus, tapping on a non-thumbnail place on the map 618 will radiate out asearch around the target location 1110, as illustrated schematically inFIG. 11B by a substantially circular geographical search area 1130centered on the target location 1110. Such a location-based search canhave a predefined search radius from the tap location. If any snaps arefound in the geographical search area 1130, they are automaticallyplayed back in sequence, as described before. If there are no snaps inthat area, the search bounces back to show no results found.

In some embodiments, such a location-based search is dynamicallyrestrained by a predefined search limit, so that the size of thegeographical search area 1130 can be variable in different instances. Insome embodiments, the search limit for a location-based search is apredefined maximum size defined by the number of snaps located in thesearch. In an example embodiment, the geographical search area 1130 willthus radiate out from the target location 1110 to a point where apredefined maximum number of snaps are found, after which all snaps fromthat area will start playing in sequence. Worded differently, apredefined search metric or limit is provided in some embodiments todetermine when the search should be stopped. As mentioned, the searchlimit may be an upper limit to the number of snaps located, with thesearch radiating out no further from the target location once the numberof snaps located reaches the upper limit. Thus, it will be seen thatdifferent location-based searches can return snaps from geographicalsearch areas 1130 that differ in size, depending on the density of snapsin the vicinity of the target location 1110.

In some example embodiments, such a location-triggered social mediacontent search (i.e., a search for social media content uploaded byother users triggered by a user click/tap at the target location 1110that does not coincide with a story icon 631/633 or friend bitmoji 640)can be configured automatically to exclude social media items includedin one or more of the clustered collections represented by respectiveicons 631, 633 on the map. Thus, in this embodiment, the social mediaapplication will not include in search results or replay any snaps thatare included in any of the place stories or any of the spike stories onthe map.

As mentioned, initiating a location-based search by clicking or tappingon a non-thumbnail area in this example embodiment triggers automaticreplay of snaps located within a geographical search area 1130 centeredon the target location 1110. In other embodiments, such a search inputby target location selection may cause display of a graphical userinterface element listing the snaps found within the search area, forexample including a thumbnail and username for each found snap. The usercan thereafter select from the list of found snaps those which are to bereplayed.

In some embodiments, the snaps located in a location-based search areplayed back in chronological sequence, as indicated by respectivetimestamp data indicating when the corresponding snap was uploaded. Insome example embodiments, a sequencing operation may be performed on thesubset of snaps identified in a location-based search, so that thereplay sequence does not strictly follow chronological sequence. In oneexample embodiment, an improved sequence for media playback in responseto a user tap on the map viewport is achieved by a sequence ofoperations comprising (a) finding all snaps in a fixed radius of the tappoint, (b) doing geo-temporal clustering of those snaps, (c) sortingthose clusters by distance from tap, and (d) sorting within the clustersby time.

In some embodiments, the location-based search is by default performedfor material uploaded within a predefined default time period. Forexample, the location-based search may identify all snaps that (a) arelocated within the geographical search area 1130; (b) are not includedin any story represented by a corresponding story icon 631/633; and (c)have timestamps within a default preceding ephemeral timespan. Thus, inan example embodiment in which a snap is by default available for 24hours via the map GUI 612, the location-based search may by defaultlocate snaps having timestamps indicating upload dates within the past24 hours.

In some embodiments, however, the preceding period with respect to whichthe search is performed is selectively variable by the user. Forexample, the search period timespan is automatically variable inresponse to an interval for which a search input gesture or signal isprovided by the user.

In embodiments in which the map GUI 612 is displayed on a touchscreen606 (as is the case in the example embodiment of FIGS. 11A and 11B), ageo-temporal search is triggered by haptic contact at a particularlocation within the map 618, with the search being geographicallycentered on a target location 1110 defined by the on-screen position ofthe haptic contact. In some embodiments, an input interval indicated bythe time period for which the haptic contact is maintained with thetouchscreen 606 automatically determines the preceding timespan withrespect to which the search is carried out. In such a case, for example,a tap on the screen triggers a geo-temporal search for material withinthe default time period, while a press and hold automatically triggers ageo-temporal search for material within an extended time period which islonger than the default time period. In one example embodiment, a tapinput triggers a geo-temporal search with a 12-hour timespan, while atap and hold triggers a geo-temporal search with a 24-hour timespan. Inother embodiments, the extended timespan is variable in graduatedfashion, so that multiple different search timespans are selectablebased on the press-and-hold interval. Note that the operations describedwith reference to the haptic contact on the touchscreen 606 can beperformed analogously by a click-and-hold input in instances where userinput is provided by a cursor control mechanism, such as a mouse.

Instead, or in addition, the search radius (i.e., the size of thegeographical search area 1130) may be variable based on the length ofthe input interval, with longer input intervals (e.g., a longer holdperiod) corresponding to a larger search radius.

Overview of Map GUI Functionality

In use, the map GUI 612 thus surfaces different types of location-basedstories, which the user can view from the map 618. In the exampleembodiment of FIGS. 6A and 6B, the user can access via the map GUI 612snaps posted to Our Story from anywhere in the world. This can beachieved by navigating to different geographical areas displayed withinthe map viewport 621. In particular, the displayed geographical area canbe changed by zooming in or zooming out, and by moving the focus area ofthe map viewport 621. In the example embodiment of FIGS. 6A and 6B, inwhich the map GUI 612 is provided on a touchscreen 606, zooming in andzooming out can be achieved by haptic gestures in the form of apinch-out or a pinch-in haptic input. Movement of the map 618 within themap viewport 621, so as to change the displayed geographical area, isachieved by a haptic dragging gesture at any point on the map 618.

In this example embodiment, the map 618 is not selectively rotatable bythe user, having a fixed default orientation relative to the touchscreen606. In other embodiments, the map 618 may have a fixed orientationrelative to the Earth. In some embodiments, the map 618 is selectivelyrotatable, e.g., with all map content rotating around a fixed anchor.

As discussed at length above, in any particular map viewport 621, thedisplayed information can include:

-   -   the color-coded heatmap 625, visually displaying the        geographical distribution of snap uploading activity within a        preceding window (for example the default snap lifetime, in this        example 24 hours), allowing the user readily to identify places        with more or less activity. This enables the user more        effectively to target location-based searches via the map GUI        612. In some embodiments, the color-coded heatmap 625 is shown        only at a highest level of magnification. In this example        embodiment, however, the color-coded heatmap 625 is rendered at        all zoom levels.    -   Thumbnail icons 631, 633 for surfaced content forming part of        ephemeral galleries or stories. As described previously, these        include in this example embodiment place icons 631 for        geo-anchored stories associated with particular labeled        locations, and spike icons 633 for location-based stories        surfaced based on anomalous levels of geo-spatial activity.    -   Friend bitmojis 640 of friend users most frequently contacted by        the user who is logged in to the social media client application        104 executing on the client device 102 and by which the map GUI        612 is generated.

In some embodiments, no spike icons 633 are shown at some levels ofmagnification. In a particular example embodiment, no spike icons 633are shown at the original zoom level at which the map GUI 612 loads bydefault. In such an example, only the heatmap 625, friend bitmojis 640,and a number of place icons 631 are displayed on the map 618 at theoriginal zoom level. As the user zooms in, spike icons 633 are surfaced,representing respective clusters of activity.

It will be appreciated that different icons 631, 633 are surfaced atdifferent zoom levels. In this example embodiment, the map GUI 612displays no more than a predefined maximum number of place icons 631 andno more than a predefined maximum number of spike icons 633 in anyparticular view. For example, at any zoom level, the top three placestories (ranked by snap volume) are surfaced by displaying respectiveplace icons 631 in the map viewport 621. Likewise, at any zoom level,the top three spike stories (ranked by anomality or unusualness metricvalue) are surfaced by displaying respective spike icons 633 in the mapviewport 621.

In addition to viewing stories surfaced in the map 618 by respectivestory icons 631, 633, the user can use one or more of the searchfunctionalities described above to access any snap uploaded to Our Storyand whose gallery participation timer or availability lifetime has notyet expired.

It will be appreciated that the map GUI 612 is dynamic, in that theinformation displayed therein changes dynamically with time. New snapsmay continually be uploaded to Our Story, while the underlying socialmedia items upon which surfacing of the story icons 631, 633 andgeneration of the heatmap 625 is based can further continually changedue to the expiration of the availability of snaps. In this exampleembodiment, however, the information displayed in the map viewport 621is not dynamically updated during display of any particular geographicalarea. Instead, changing of the focus of the map viewport 621 isassociated with receiving updated information with respect to the storyicons 631, 633 and heatmap 625 from the application server 112.

It is a benefit of the map GUI 612 as described with the exampleembodiments that it provides for user-friendly and intuitive interactionwith geographically distributed social media content. The provision ofdifferent types of social media galleries (e.g., representedrespectively by spike icons 633 and place icons 631) provides a systemthat automatically surfaces only content which is most relevant foruser-selection in such a manner that the very large number of individualsocial media items that may be available via a social media platform isreduced in complexity, and that allows selection of targeted content inwhich the user might be interested.

Example System

FIG. 8 shows an example embodiment of a social media platform system 800configured to provide a map-based graphical user interface for a socialmedia application, such as the map GUI 612 described with reference toFIGS. 6A-7C. The system 800 and its associated components can in someembodiments be provided server-side, for example by the social mediaapplication server system 108 (FIG. 1 ). In such instances, therespective components of the system 800 can be provided by execution ofthe social media server application 114 on the application server 112.In other embodiments, one or more components of the system 800 areprovided client-side, for example by execution of the social mediaclient application 104 executing on a respective client device 102 (FIG.1 ). In yet further embodiments, the system 800 is providedcollaboratively server-side and client-side, the application server 112and a client device 102 in communication therewith being configured toprovide the respective system components by execution of the socialmedia client application 104 on the client device 102 and by executionof the social media server application 114 on the application server112.

The system 800 includes a map engine 808 to generate the map GUI 612,including the location-based social media information displayed in themap GUI 612. Thus, the map engine 808 is configured to generate or tofacilitate generation of the map 618 (FIG. 6A) in the map viewport 621of the client device 102. To this end, the map engine 808 can beconfigured to surface and cause display of particular story icons 631,633, to identify and cause display of respective friend bitmojis 640, togenerate heatmap information and display or cause display of a heatmap625 overlaid on the map 618, and to perform operations that provideother related functionalities of the map GUI 612 described withreference to FIGS. 6A-7C.

The system 800 further includes a replay mechanism 816 configured tocause automated sequential replay of the content of a set of socialmedia items or snaps on the client device 102. The replay mechanism 816can thus cause sequential display of all of the snaps in a selectedplace story or spike story, as described previously herein. In someembodiments, the replay mechanism 816 may provide for transmission ofthe set of snaps to the client device 102 in response to selection of acorresponding story icon 631/633. In some such embodiments, informationautomatically transmitted by the application server 112 to the clientdevice 102 upon initial rendering of a map view in the map GUI 612 caninclude a first few (e.g., 2 or 3) snaps for each of the story icons631, 633 surfaced in the map viewport 621. Upon selection of aparticular story icon 631/633, the first few snaps in the story areimmediately available for replay, with the subsequent snaps in the storybeing pulled from the application server 112 during presentation of thefirst few snaps.

The system 800 also includes a gallery management system 824. In thisexample embodiment, the gallery management system 824 is provided by thecollection management system 204 (FIG. 2 ) as previously described. Thegallery management system 824 is configured for the automated orsemiautomated compilation of the respective social media galleries orstories as previously described. This may include curation or moderationof respective stories by use of a server-side curation interface 208provided by the gallery management system 824.

The system 800 further includes a search engine 833 configured toprovide search functionalities with respect to social media content viathe map GUI 612. In particular, the search engine 833 in this exampleembodiment provides for user-directed searching both via the searchinterface 1010 (FIGS. 10A-10B) and via location-based searching bydirect selection of a target location on the map 618 (FIGS. 11A-11B).Automated operations which the search engine 833 is configured orprogrammed to perform in some example embodiments are described ingreater detail below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 9A-9C.

Example Method

FIG. 9A is a schematic flow chart illustrating a high-level view of amethod 900 of providing a map-based GUI for a social media application,according to an example embodiment. The method 900 is in this exampleembodiment executed by a system 800 as described with reference to FIG.8 , using the system architecture and environment described withreference to FIGS. 1-5 . Moreover, the example method 900 in thisexample embodiment provides the various map-based functionalities,including location-based search functionalities, described withreference to FIGS. 6A-7C and 10A-11B. The various operations thatprovide the respective functionalities described with reference to theexample map GUI 612 of FIGS. 6A-7C and 10A-11B are to be read as formingpart of the method 900, even though, for avoidance of repetition, notall of the different operations previously described are repeated in thehigh-level overview of the method 900 described below.

At operation 902, the map engine 808 effects display of the map GUI 612on the client device 102. This can comprise compiling location-basedsocial media galleries by identifying the respective set of snaps thatare included in each of multiple stories or galleries viewable via themap GUI 612. Note that in this description the superset of snaps orsocial media items that are publicly viewable via the map GUI 612 (e.g.,all of the snaps uploaded to Our Story) is used as an overarchinggallery, with operations performed by the gallery management system 824(such as managing respective gallery participation timers for themultiple snaps) in some instances applying also to snaps that are notincluded in any story replayable by user-selection of a correspondingstory icon 631/633.

The display of the map GUI 612, at operation 902, is triggered byreceiving a request for map display via the map GUI 612. Thus, forexample, an initial loading of the social media client application 104on the client device 102 in some embodiments automatically requests mapinformation for a geographical area centered on the user's currentlocation at a default magnification level. Likewise, when the userchanges the geographical area to be displayed in the map viewport 621(e.g., by changing the magnification level and/or by changing thecenterpoint of the map 618), a request for corresponding map informationis issued.

In response to the request for map display information, the map engine808 in an automated operation identifies the particular social mediagalleries that are to be surfaced in the requested map view bydisplaying respective story icons 631, 633 on the map 618. In thisexample embodiment, as described previously, a number of spike storiesare identified for surfacing based on previously calculated respectiveanomality metric values, and a number of place stories are identifiedfor surfacing based on snap volume.

The map engine 808 causes display in the map GUI 612 of respective storyicons 631, 633 for each gallery or story identified for surfacing. Inthis example embodiment, the application server 112 communicates to theclient device 102 gallery information in the form of respective storymanifests that provide information necessary for displaying therespective story icons 631, 633. For example, the application server 112can provide, for each of the surfaced stories, a location of thecorresponding story icon 631/633, an indicator of the type of story icon(e.g., whether it is a place icon 631 or a spike icon 633), a name orlabel of the story (if any), a thumbnail image for inclusion in therespective story icon 631/633, and a list of snaps forming part of thecorresponding story. In some embodiments, as discussed previously, suchgallery information may include the payload of a first few of the snaps,to enable immediate commencement of story playback in response to userselection. Based on the gallery information thus received, the clientdevice 102 generates the requested map view in the map GUI 612, in someinstances including display of a plurality of place icons 631 and aplurality of spike icons 633 at different respective locations on themap 618.

At operation 904, a location-based search query is received via the mapGUI 612, user input indicating a location-based search query comprisinguser selection of a target location on the map 618. In the presentexample embodiment, in which the map GUI 612 is rendered on thetouchscreen 606 (FIG. 6A) receptive to haptic input, the location-basedsearch query comprises haptic input in the form of a manual tap at theuser-selected target location 1110, as illustrated schematically in FIG.11A.

At operation 908, a location-based search for social media content isperformed based on the user-selected target location 1110, identifying aset of social media items (in this example embodiment, ephemeralmessages in the form of snaps) lying within a geographical search area1130 centered on the target location 1110. Two alternative exampleembodiments for the operation of performing the location-based search,at operation 908, will be described below with reference to FIG. 9B andFIG. 9C, respectively.

At operation 912, the search results provided by the location-basedsearch are presented on the client device 102. In the present exampleembodiment, such presentation of the search results comprises automatedsequential replay of the snaps included in the search result set. In oneexample, the snaps are played back in chronological sequence based onrespective timestamps, with the earliest snap being played first. Inother embodiments, presentation of the search results, at operation 912,can comprise displaying the snaps in the search result set as a list ofselectable user interface elements.

Turning now to FIG. 9B, therein is shown a flowchart 920 illustratingone example embodiment of procedures for performing the location-basedsearch, at operation 908 in the method 900 of FIG. 9A, and performingthe presentation of search results on the client device 102, atoperation 912 in the method 900 of FIG. 9A.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 9B, the location-based search(operation 908) is performed with respect to a static geographicalsearch area 1130 (FIG. 11C) of predetermined size. Thus, in response touser selection of the target location 1110, the geographical search area1130 is determined, at operation 922, by defining a substantiallycircular geographical area centered on the target location 1110. Thegeographical search area 1130 is thus defined as including all thelocations lying within a predetermined radius of the target location1110.

At operation 926, a set of candidate messages/snaps is identified asconsisting of all publicly viewable ephemeral messages (in this exampleembodiment being snaps uploaded to Our Story) having geotag dataindicating a respective location falling within the geographical searcharea 1130. The set of candidate messages is further limited to snapshaving timestamp data indicating a respective submission time fallingwithin a predetermined search timespan. In this example embodiment, thepredetermined search timespan is equal to the default availabilitylifetime (also referred to herein as the “gallery participation timer”or “story participation timer”) of snaps uploaded to the social mediaapplication. Thus, in one example where snaps uploaded to Our Story areby default available for viewing for a period of 24 hours, the searchtimespan is 24 hours.

At operation 928, the set of candidate snaps identified based on geo-tagdata and timestamp data is filtered by excluding therefrom all snapsthat are included in any one of the place stories or the spike storiesrepresented in the map GUI 612 by respective story icons 631, 633. Thefiltered set of candidate snaps provides the search result set.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 9B, presentation of the search resultson the client device 102 (operation 912) comprises sequencing the resultset, at operation 938, to arrange the snaps in the search result set inan order that is not strictly chronological, and thereafter, atoperation 957, performing automated sequential playback of the snaps inthe search result set in the identified sequence.

The sequencing procedure (operation 938) in this example embodimentcomprises, at operation 943, clustering the snaps in the search resultset into multiple geo-temporal clusters. In some embodiments, thegeo-temporal clustering may be based exclusively on location (asindicated by geo-tag data), so that the clusters are purely geographicalclusters. In this example embodiment, however, the clustering isgeo-temporal in that the snaps are clustered based on a combination ofgeographic location and timestamp. To this end, a clustering metric isdefined as a geo-temporal distance that quantifies a “distance” betweensnaps in time and space. The snaps are thus clustered based on theirgeo-temporal proximity.

At operation 947, the respective clusters of snaps are sorted bydistance from the target location 1110. In particular, the clusters areordered such that clusters closer to the target location 1110 areearlier in the sequence than clusters that are further from the targetlocation 1110. At operation 951, the snaps within each cluster aresorted by timestamp, such that earlier snaps are located earlier in thesequence.

At operation 957, automated sequential playback of the snaps in thesearch result set is performed based on the sequence identified atoperation 938.

FIG. 9C shows a schematic flow chart illustrating operations formingpart of a procedure for performing a location-based search based on auser-selected target location, at operation 908 in the example method900 of FIG. 9A. In the example embodiment of FIG. 9C, the location-basedsearch is performed based on a dynamic geographical search area 1130which progressively grows in size until a predefined number of snaps arelocated for playback, or until the geographical search area 1130 reachesa maximum size.

In response to user input of the search query by selecting the targetlocation 1110, operations 922, 926, and 928 initially proceed similarlyto like-numbered operations described in the example embodiment of FIG.9B, with an initial geographical search area 1130 being defined atoperation 922 to have a predefined initial radius. At operation 970, thesearch engine 833 determines whether or not the number of snaps in thecurrent search result set is smaller than a predefined maximum size. Forexample, the predefined maximum size may be 20 snaps, so that thelocation-based search in no instance returns a search result set greaterthan 20 snaps. If it is determined, at operation 970, that the searchresult set is equal to or greater than the predefined maximum size, thesearch is stopped, at operation 975.

Otherwise, however, it is determined, at operation 971, whether or notthe geographical search area 1130 has a radius smaller than a predefinedmaximum size. Of course, at the first iteration of the process, thegeographical search area 1130 will be found to be smaller than themaximum size. In some embodiments, the maximum size of the geographicalsearch area 1130 is defined in terms of actual geographical size. Inthis embodiment, however, the maximum size of the geographical searcharea 1130 is defined based on on-screen size. The geographical searcharea 1130 thus has a consistent maximum on-screen size, irrespective ofthe magnification level of the map 618.

If it is determined, at operation 971, that the geographical search area1130 is equal to or larger than the predefined maximum size, the searchis stopped, at operation 975. If, however, it is determined, atoperation 971, that the geographical search area 1130 is smaller thanthe maximum size, the geographical search area 1130 is expanded, atoperation 973, and further compilation of the search result set isperformed at operations 926 and 928 based on the expanded geographicalsearch area 1130.

It will thus be seen that, consistent with the example embodiment ofFIG. 9C, ephemeral snaps available for public viewing and not includedin any of the replayable stories represented by story icons 631, 633 areidentified with respect to a progressively growing geographical searcharea 1130 until the search result set reaches a maximum size, or untilthe geographical search area 1130 reaches a maximum size, whicheveroccurs first.

Machine and Software Architecture

These systems, system components, methods, applications, and so forthdescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 1-11B are implemented in someembodiments in the context of a machine and an associated softwarearchitecture. The sections below describe representative softwarearchitecture(s) and machine (e.g., hardware) architecture(s) that aresuitable for use with the disclosed embodiments.

Software architectures are used in conjunction with hardwarearchitectures to create devices and machines configured for particularpurposes. For example, a particular hardware architecture coupled with aparticular software architecture will create a mobile device, such as amobile phone, tablet device, or so forth. A slightly different hardwareand software architecture may yield a smart device for use in the“internet of things,” while yet another combination produces a servercomputer for use within a cloud computing architecture. The software andhardware architectures presented here are example architectures forimplementing the disclosure, and are not exhaustive as to possiblearchitectures that can be employed for implementing the disclosure.

Software Architecture

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture1206, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 12 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture, and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 1206 may execute on hardwaresuch as a machine 1300 of FIG. 13 that includes, among other things,processors 1304, memory 1314, and I/O components 1318. A representativehardware layer 1252 is illustrated and can represent, for example, themachine 1300 of FIG. 13 . The representative hardware layer 1252includes a processing unit 1254 having associated executableinstructions 1204. The executable instructions 1204 represent theexecutable instructions of the software architecture 1206, includingimplementation of the methods, components, and so forth describedherein. The hardware layer 1252 also includes memory and/or storagemodules memory/storage 1256, which also have the executable instructions1204. The hardware layer 1252 may also comprise other hardware 1258.

In the example architecture of FIG. 12 , the software architecture 1206may be conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 1206may include layers such as an operating system 1202, libraries 1220,frameworks/middleware 1218, applications 1216, and a presentation layer1214. Operationally, the applications 1216 and/or other componentswithin the layers may invoke application programming interface (API)calls 1208 through the software stack and receive a response in the formof messages 1208. The layers illustrated are representative in nature,and not all software architectures have all layers. For example, somemobile or special-purpose operating systems may not provide aframeworks/middleware 1218, while others may provide such a layer. Othersoftware architectures may include additional or different layers.

The operating system 1202 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 1202 may include, for example, akernel 1222, services 1224, and drivers 1226. The kernel 1222 may act asan abstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 1222 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 1224 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 1226are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware. For instance, the drivers 1226 include display drivers, cameradrivers, Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communicationdrivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers,audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 1220 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 1216 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries1220 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than by interfacing directly with theunderlying operating system 1202 functionality (e.g., kernel 1222,services 1224, and/or drivers 1226). The libraries 1220 may includesystem libraries 1244 (e.g., C standard library) that may providefunctions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulationfunctions, mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, thelibraries 1220 may include API libraries 1246 such as media libraries(e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of variousmedia formats such as MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphicslibraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and3D graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite thatmay provide various relational database functions), web libraries (e.g.,WebKit that may provide web browsing functionality), and the like. Thelibraries 1220 may also include a wide variety of other libraries 1248to provide many other APIs to the applications 1216 and other softwarecomponents/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 1218 provides a higher-level commoninfrastructure that may be used by the applications 1216 and/or othersoftware components/modules. For example, the frameworks/middleware 1218may provide various graphic user interface (GUI) functions, high-levelresource management, high-level location services, and so forth. Theframeworks/middleware 1218 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIsthat may be utilized by the applications 1216 and/or other softwarecomponents/modules, some of which may be specific to a particularoperating system 1202 or platform.

The applications 1216 include built-in applications 1238 and/orthird-party applications 1240. Examples of representative built-inapplications 1238 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, a media application, a messaging application,and/or a game application. The third-party applications 1240 may includean application developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™ ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 1240 may invoke the API calls 1208 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as the operating system 1202) tofacilitate functionality described herein.

The applications 1216 may use built-in operating system 1202 functions(e.g., kernel 1222, services 1224, and/or drivers 1226), libraries 1220,and frameworks/middleware 1218 to create user interfaces to interactwith users of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, in somesystems interactions with a user may occur through a presentation layer,such as the presentation layer 1214. In these systems, theapplication/component “logic” can be separated from the aspects of theapplication/component that interact with a user.

Hardware Architecture

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1300,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 13 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1300 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1310 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 1300 to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such,the instructions 1310 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 1310 transform the general,non-programmed machine 1300 into a particular machine 1300 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1300 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 1300 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 1300 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 1310, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by the machine 1300. Further, while only a single machine 1300 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 1310 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 1300 may include processors 1304, memory/storage 1306, andI/O components 1318, which may be configured to communicate with eachother such as via a bus 1302. The memory/storage 1306 may include amemory 1314, such as a main memory, or other memory storage, and astorage unit 1316, both accessible to the processors 1304 such as viathe bus 1302. The storage unit 1316 and memory 1314 store theinstructions 1310 embodying any one or more of the methodologies orfunctions described herein. The instructions 1310 may also reside,completely or partially, within the memory 1314, within the storage unit1316, within at least one of the processors 1304 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, duringexecution thereof by the machine 1300. Accordingly, the memory 1314, thestorage unit 1316, and the memory of the processors 1304 are examples ofmachine-readable media. In some embodiments, the processors 1304comprise a number of distributed processors 1308-1312, each of whichhave access to associated memories storing instructions 1310.

The I/O components 1318 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1318 that are included in a particular machine 1300 willdepend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such asmobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other suchinput mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely notinclude such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/Ocomponents 1318 may include many other components that are not shown inFIG. 13 . The I/O components 1318 are grouped according to functionalitymerely for simplifying the following discussion, and the grouping is inno way limiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 1318may include output components 1326 and input components 1328. The outputcomponents 1326 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 1328 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touchscreen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, atouchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touchgestures, or other tactile input components), audio input components(e.g., a microphone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 1318 may includebiometric components 1330, motion components 1334, environmentcomponents 1336, or position components 1338 among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 1330 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram-basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1334 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environment components 1336 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gassensors to detect concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or tomeasure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that mayprovide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to asurrounding physical environment. The position components 1338 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a Global Positioning System(GPS) receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimetersor barometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may bederived), orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and thelike.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1318 may include communication components 1340operable to couple the machine 1300 to a network 1332 or devices 1320via a coupling 1324 and a coupling 1322 respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1340 may include a network interface componentor other suitable device to interface with the network 1332. In furtherexamples, the communication components 1340 may include wiredcommunication components, wireless communication components, cellularcommunication components, Near Field Communication (NFC) components,Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components to provide communication via othermodalities. The devices 1320 may be another machine or any of a widevariety of peripheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via aUniversal Serial Bus (USB)).

Moreover, the communication components 1340 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 1340 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components1340, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting an NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary

“CARRIER SIGNAL” in this context refers to any intangible medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine, and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible media to facilitate communication of such instructions.Instructions may be transmitted or received over the network using atransmission medium via a network interface device and using any one ofa number of well-known transfer protocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE” in this context refers to any machine that interfaces toa communications network to obtain resources from one or more serversystems or other client devices. A client device may be, but is notlimited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digitalassistant (PDA), smart phone, tablet, ultra book, netbook, laptop,multi-processor system, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronic system, game console, set-top box, or any other communicationdevice that a user may use to access a network.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK” in this context refers to one or more portionsof a network that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, avirtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wirelessLAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), aplain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network ora portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular network, andthe coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, aGlobal System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or anothertype of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, the coupling mayimplement any of a variety of types of data transfer technology, such asSingle Carrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-DataOptimized (EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology,third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourthgeneration wireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (UMTS), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long-Term Evolution (LTE)standard, others defined by various standard-setting organizations,other long-range protocols, or other data-transfer technology.

“EMPHEMERAL MESSAGE” in this context refers to a message that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message is transitory. “Snaps”as referenced in the description are ephemeral messages.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM” in this context refers to a component, adevice, or other tangible media able to store instructions and datatemporarily or permanently and may include, but is not limited to,random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flashmemory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types ofstorage (e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM)), and/orany suitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media,that is capable of storing instructions (e.g., code) for execution by amachine, such that the instructions, when executed by one or moreprocessors of the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or moreof the methodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readablemedium” refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as“cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include multiplestorage apparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium”excludes signals per se.

“COMPONENT” in this context refers to a device, a physical entity, orlogic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, application programming interfaces (APIs), or other technologiesthat provide for the partitioning or modularization of particularprocessing or control functions. Components may be combined via theirinterfaces with other components to carry out a machine process. Acomponent may be a packaged functional hardware unit designed for usewith other components and a part of a program that usually performs aparticular function of related functions. Components may constituteeither software components (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readablemedium) or hardware components. A “hardware component” is a tangibleunit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured orarranged in a certain physical manner. In various example embodiments,one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computer system, aclient computer system, or a server computer system) or one or morehardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a groupof processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein. A hardware component may also beimplemented mechanically, electronically, or any suitable combinationthereof. For example, a hardware component may include dedicatedcircuitry or logic that is permanently configured to perform certainoperations. A hardware component may be a special-purpose processor,such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or anApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware component mayalso include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarilyconfigured by software to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware component may include software executed by a general-purposeprocessor or other programmable processor. Once configured by suchsoftware, hardware components become specific machines (or specificcomponents of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configuredfunctions and are no longer general-purpose processors. It will beappreciated that the decision to implement a hardware componentmechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase“hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) should beunderstood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that isphysically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), ortemporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manneror to perform certain operations described herein. Consideringembodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured(e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not beconfigured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processorconfigured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respectively differentspecial-purpose processors (e.g., comprising different hardwarecomponents) at different times. Software accordingly configures aparticular processor or processors, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware component at one instance of time and to constitutea different hardware component at a different instance of time. Hardwarecomponents can provide information to, and receive information from,other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inembodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output. Hardware components may alsoinitiate communications with input or output devices, and can operate ona resource (e.g., a collection of information). The various operationsof example methods described herein may be performed, at leastpartially, by one or more processors that are temporarily configured(e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevantoperations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, suchprocessors may constitute processor-implemented components that operateto perform one or more operations or functions described herein. As usedherein, “processor-implemented component” refers to a hardware componentimplemented using one or more processors. Similarly, the methodsdescribed herein may be at least partially processor-implemented, with aparticular processor or processors being an example of hardware. Forexample, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed byone or more processors or processor-implemented components. Moreover,the one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of theoperations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), with these operations being accessiblevia a network (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriateinterfaces (e.g., an application programming interface (API)). Theperformance of certain of the operations may be distributed among theprocessors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployedacross a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processorsor processor-implemented components may be located in a singlegeographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an officeenvironment, or a server farm). In other example embodiments, theprocessors or processor-implemented components may be distributed acrossa number of geographic locations.

“PROCESSOR” in this context refers to any circuit or virtual circuit (aphysical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor)that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands,” “op codes,” “machine code,” etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine. Aprocessor may, for example, be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), aReduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a ComplexInstruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application-SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC),or any combination thereof. A processor may further be a multi-coreprocessor having two or more independent processors (sometimes referredto as “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously.

“TIMESTAMP” in this context refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

Language

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated, unless that thecontext and/or logic clearly indicates otherwise. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Although an overview of the disclosed subject matter has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, various modificationsand changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided forresources, operations, or structures described herein as a singleinstance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources,operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary,and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specificillustrative configurations. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method comprising: generating a map-based graphicaluser interface (GUI) for a social media platform, the map-based GUIincluding an interactive map that shows a geographical area; causingdisplay on the interactive map of a heatmap overlaid on the displayedgeographical area to indicate geographical distribution of a metric ofuser activity on the social media platform; receiving a location-basedsearch query provided by user input comprising selection of a targetpoint on the map via the map-based GUI; and in an automated operationperformed using a search engine comprising one or more computerprocessor devices configured therefor, performing a location-basedsearch for social media content with reference to the user-selectedtarget point on the map; and causing display on the user device ofsearch results of the location-based search.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the metric of user activity indicated by the heatmap is based onuser activity limited to posting of geo-tagged social media content thatis published for general accessibility.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein performing the location-based search comprises: determining thegeographical search area based at least in part on the user-selectedtarget point; and identifying from a superset of social media items asearch result set limited to items within the social media itemssuperset respectively satisfy inclusion criteria that includes having arespective posting location situated within the geographical searcharea, the posting location of each social media item being indicated byrespective item-specific geotag data.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: causing display overlaid on the heatmap of a plurality ofcollection icons at different respective locations on the interactivemap, each collection icon corresponding in location to a respectivelocation-based collection, each collection comprising a respective setof social media items grouped together based at least in part onrespective geotag data; and responsive to receiving user inputindicating selection of a particular one of the plurality of collectionicons, causing automated sequential reproduction of the correspondingset of social media items.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein theinclusion criteria of the location-based search is further configured toexclude any social media item that is a member of any of thelocation-based collections represented by the plurality of displayedcollection icons.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein display of thesearch results comprises causing presentation on the user device ofsearch results for the location-based search by automatically launching,directly responsive to the location-targeted search query, automatedsequential display of the result set, the automated sequential displaycomprising reproduction of respective visual media content of the resultset one after another in sequence.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein thelaunching of the automated sequential display is directly responsive tothe location-targeted search query comprises automatically commencingreplay of a first item in the result set without any intervening userinput.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the presentation of the searchresults by sequential visual media content reproduction is initiatedwithout any preceding presentation of the result set in list form. 10.The method of claim 7, wherein the superset of social media items iscomprised of image visual media-based ephemeral messages.
 11. The methodof claim 3, wherein the metric of user activity indicated by the heatmapis based at least on part on an anomality metric that indicates a levelof unusualness of social media item posting from the respectivelocations.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the anomality metric is ageo-temporal anomality metric, being a function of unusualness of socialmedia item posting from each respective location for a particular timewindow within a larger conventional calendar unit.
 13. A systemcomprising: one or more computer processor devices; and memory havingstored thereon instructions that configure the one or more computerprocessor devices, when the instructions are executed by the one or morecomputer processor devices, to generating a map-based graphical userinterface (GUI) for a social media platform, the map-based GUI includingan interactive map that shows a geographical area; causing display onthe interactive map of a heatmap overlaid on the displayed geographicalarea to indicate geographical distribution of a metric of user activityon the social media platform; receiving a location-based search queryprovided by user input comprising selection of a target point on the mapvia the map-based GUI; and performing a location-based search for socialmedia content with reference to the user-selected target point on themap; and causing display on the user device of search results of thelocation-based search.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the metric ofuser activity indicated by the heatmap is based on user activity limitedto posting of geo-tagged social media content that is published forgeneral accessibility.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein theinstructions configure the one or more computer processor devices toperform the location-based search in a procedure comprising: determiningthe geographical search area based at least in part on the user-selectedtarget point; and identifying from a superset of social media items asearch result set limited to items within the social media itemssuperset respectively satisfy inclusion criteria that includes having arespective posting location situated within the geographical searcharea, the posting location of each social media item being indicated byrespective item-specific geotag data.
 16. The system of claim 15,wherein the instructions further configure the one or more computerprocessor devices to perform operations comprising: causing displayoverlaid on the heatmap of a plurality of collection icons at differentrespective locations on the interactive map, each collection iconcorresponding in location to a respective location-based collection,each collection comprising a respective set of social media itemsgrouped together based at least in part on respective geotag data; andresponsive to receiving user input indicating selection of a particularone of the plurality of collection icons, causing automated sequentialreproduction of the corresponding set of social media items.
 17. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein the inclusion criteria of the location-basedsearch is further configured to exclude any social media item that is amember of any of the location-based collections represented by theplurality of displayed collection icons.
 18. The system of claim 15,wherein the instructions configure the one or more computer processordevices to display of the search results by automatically launching,directly responsive to the location-targeted search query, automatedsequential display of the result set, the automated sequential displaycomprising reproduction of respective visual media content of the resultset one after another in sequence.
 19. The system of claim 14, whereinthe metric of user activity indicated by the heatmap is based at leaston part on an anomality metric that indicates a level of unusualness ofsocial media item posting from the respective locations.
 20. The systemof claim 19, wherein the anomality metric is a geo-temporal anomalitymetric, being a function of unusualness of social media item postingfrom each respective location for a particular time window within alarger conventional calendar unit.
 21. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions forcausing a machine, when executing the instructions, to performoperations comprising: generating a map-based graphical user interface(GUI) for a social media platform, the map-based GUI including aninteractive map that shows a geographical area; causing display on theinteractive map of a heatmap overlaid on the displayed geographical areato indicate geographical distribution of a metric of user activity onthe social media platform; receiving a location-based search queryprovided by user input comprising selection of a target point on the mapvia the map-based GUI; and in an automated operation performed using asearch engine comprising one or more computer processor devicesconfigured therefor, performing a location-based search for social mediacontent with reference to the user-selected target point on the map; andcausing display on the user device of search results of thelocation-based search.